5 Things a Paper Scrapbooker Can Teach a Digital Scrapbooker

It’s been seven years since I made the switch to digital scrapbooking. I’ve picked up some wisdoms along the way, which I think other digital scrapbooker’s value. One such wisdom is to not complete an entire digital page without saving. Dude, don’t do that! Photoshop will deliberately crash two minutes before you complete your layout. Some how it knows. It always knows.

Paper scrapbookers know a thing or too about our craft as well. And we can learn from them! Here are five things a paper scrapbooker can teach a digital scrapbooker.

Embrace Imperfection.

We’ve got rulers, ruler guides, and grids. We’ve got straightening and alignment tools too. Heck we even have a set of keyboard shortcuts that will undo our most recent actions. And a dedicated panel that can reverse all of your digital decisions in 1/100th of a second flat! Do you know what what that means? Do you KNOW what that means?

Every technique is erasable; every digital action, changeable. At any moment you can restart from an empty blank canvas. Sometimes that doesn’t work in our favor because we can start over, over and over again. We second guess, try something different, push the control+Z before we’ve given a technique an honest chance.

But our paste-using buddies … oh they can only push the glue so far. Punch an eyelet in the wrong spot of an almost-finished layout — it ain’t moving. Paste down your photo in the wrong position on your last piece of card stock — better find a way to make it work.

Yes, paper scrapbookers learn to embrace the imperfections. And we should too!

Master Shadow-Work

You know, paper scrapbookers never have to worry about shadowing. Obviously, real items cast shadows related to the nearest light sources. So that’s one fine task pasters ignore.

But we digi-gals should NOT ignore it. And even though I know how to shadow as well as Peppermint or Krista I still rely heavily on a toolbox of digital shadowing styles. Here are a list of my top three favorites:

Use Up Your Scraps

I will never forget, when I was a paperista, my plastic baggies full of paper scraps. Torn patterns and solid card stock squares, oo wee my scrap collection runneth over. And I made use of my scraps whenever possible! I was a good SCRAPbooker.

I try to carry the same philosophy over when I purchase a kit. I “invest” in kits with a high reusability. You know, I want to get my money’s worth out of it! That simply means I generally steer away from themed kits and hunt for kits with a non-themed or of non-specific objects.

Get Messy

The paper pushers love their stamps, stamp pads, inks, chalks, glitters, and mists (oh my). And if you’re not using them, what’d are you waiting for?

We can simulate stamping, inking, chalking, glittering and misting without the mess, or the smell, or the stains, or the clean up! If you’re not exactly sure how to simulate the messier part of digital scrapbooking, check back with me in early September because I’m going to show you how! Or just make sure you’re on this list.

Have Something to Hold

Finally, those lucky paper pushers get to hold, feel, and generally fondle their creations all the time. I’m jealous of them! I too want something to have and to hold.

Which simply means following through with my layout creations and sending them to print. I don’t consider a layout complete until I get to smell it. Smell the ink! Touch the paper. Slip it into my album so my family can revel in our story. My printer of choice is Pernsickety Prints.

So what do you think? Does this list accurately depict what we digi-scrappers can learn from our paper-crafting sisters? What would you add?